


Gomer Trap, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s06e01 NSF Thurmont, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-03
Updated: 2008-11-03
Packaged: 2019-05-30 20:59:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15104783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh and Colin have a little AU conversation after Donna is out of surgery.





	Gomer Trap, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: A/N1: Many thanks to Phil, for the beta job.  
  
A/N2: This story had its genesis in that scene from NSF Thurmont wherein Colin was needling Josh about Donna while they waited out her surgery. That scene always bugged me. In Josh's shoes I'd have torn him a new one, the schmuck. So I wrote a story where he did so...with unintended consequences. ;-) Oh, and many thanks to the \"Political Affairs\" website that supplied the quotes.  


* * *

_COLIN: So you fly halfway around the world, at a moment's notice, to rush to a woman's bedside, when the White House is facing off a Biblical apocalypse?_  
JOSH: We work together.  
COLIN: Past dalliance gone bad… or tragically unconsummated love kept at arm's length by Puritanical American workplace ethics?  
JOSH: What the hell are you talking about?  
COLIN: There was this girl when I was 16- no, 17…  
JOSH: This when you were a bag man for the IRA?  
COLIN: …she was mad about me - worshipped me, really - and I liked her, but I was off to university in Dublin and she was going to stay in Belfast, work in her Da's shop…  
JOSH: (anxiously) This is taking too long - isn't this taking too long?  
COLIN: …she wrote to me every single day, and she called weekends ... she was always there. And I took her for granted, you know?  
(Josh stares at Colin a beat)  
DOCTOR: Mr. Lyman?  
(both Josh and Colin immediately spring to their feet)  
JOSH: How's she doing?  
DOCTOR: We encountered a few difficulties during the procedure - she lost a substantial amount of blood. We had to transfuse and call in a vascular surgeon to repair the tear.   
COLIN: Is she going to be all right?  
DOCTOR: She's still unconscious. As soon as she stabilizes, we'll send her off for an MRI. Between the anemia and low blood pressure, she may have suffered hypoxic brain injury. Decreased oxygen delivery can result in brain damage.  
(Josh's face (and Colin's to be fair, but not nearly as much) is a mask of grief and shock) 

 

**************************************************

Dr. Lee regarded both men sternly. “Ms. Moss is going to be in recovery for several hours, 5 at least, longer than usual in these cases, so that we can monitor her closely for any neurological damage as well as keeping an eye out for further clotting. Afterward we’ll move her into the ICU. I would *strongly* recommend that the two of you get cleaned up, get something to eat, and try and get a little sleep before then. We have some empty beds that you can use. Just ask the nurses.” He turned to go and then paused and turned back. “That goes double for you Mr. Lyman. Mr. McGarry contacted the hospital administrator about your medical history. Did you bring your medications with you?”

Josh stared at him for a long moment before glancing at Colin, then looking back at the doctor and shaking his head ‘no’. He didn’t want to have this discussion in front of Ayres. The last thing that he needed right now was to appear weak in front of the Irish bastard. “They were at my townhouse. I had no time…” Then Colonel Lee cut him off abruptly.

“I understand, but that’s no excuse. When Ms. Moss wakes up, do you want her to awaken to the news that you’re in the bay next to hers in ICU because a blood vessel in your chest or your brain blew out?” 

Josh cringed and shook his head. “No,” he said faintly.

Lee softened a bit. “Alright then - After you take a shower and shave, but before you eat something, the nurses will take your vitals, and our pharmacy will issue you enough medication to get you through your time with us. Then you will eat and take a nap.” The doctor’s demeanor toughened again. “And I mean that - you *will* sleep, or I will have you sedated to be sure that you do.”

Josh nodded numbly. His mother must have gotten to Leo if he’d found time to make that call to the hospital. That meant that he had zero chance of bucking the doctor. It was a twisted sort of blessing that the White House was in crisis mode, or the President might have seen fit to put his two-cents worth in too.

Dr. Lee smiled. “Good, now both of you go get cleaned up. You look like hell on a washboard. Go to the nurse’s station. They’ll point you to the facilities.”

With that he turned and walked away briskly, without looking back.

Josh sighed and risked another glance at Colin only to find the sonofabitch smirking at him.

“Well,” Colin said, his brogue coming through stronger than before, “the old boy was pretty tough on you. Wasn’t he?”

“Okay,” Josh said, “that’s it! You want to see tough? Let’s dance!”

 

He glanced around and spotted an open door. Grabbing a fistful of Colin’s shirt he yanked him into what proved to be an unoccupied office, closed the door, and locked it.

Colin was looking combative as he glared at Josh. “Look, I don’t know what your fookin’ problem is mate, but…”

“Shut up.”

“Look, just because she and I…”

“I said, shut up,” Josh responded evenly.

Colin paused for a moment, and then smiled. “Should you be getting yourself this worked up? The doctor made it sound…”

“Look, what part of ‘shut up’ did you not understand? My health notwithstanding, I’ve still got enough strength left in my frail and infirm body to kick *your* ass.” Josh seemed to grow several inches as his voice grew pregnant with menace. Bartlet’s pit-bull had come out to play. “I’ve had it with the oily superiority bullshit, and I’m sick and tired of your continental arrogance. Believe me, I know from arrogance. I’ve been the East Coast distributor of it for twenty years. I can’t have you thrown out of here without upsetting Donna, so it is time that you and I had a meeting of the minds - A discussion amongst men, as it were.”

Colin’s stance lightened slightly as he relaxed and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Okay Lyman, speak your piece, I want to get cleaned up.”

Josh smirked. “I don’t blame you, because from where I stand you smell pretty ripe.” Colin’s face tightened, but Josh cut him off. “Let’s get something straight. A couple of days bumming around Gaza and a one-night stand do not give you any right to sit in judgment of me or of her, or of our relationship, dysfunctional and co-dependent though it is. You haven’t got the faintest clue what you’re talking about. As far as I’m concerned, you’re an interloper here. I’ll tolerate your presence for her sake, and to avoid embarrassment, but there’s only so much crap I’ll put up with, and no more.”

Colin grinned. “Now Josh, I wouldn’t be too hasty. That really was some one night stand, as you so quaintly put it. It might even have been a two or three night stand for all you know, and if it wasn’t, it will be eventually.”

Josh’s training in the Beltway snake-pit stood him in good stead as he refused to rise to the bait. “Just what do you imagine you are to her, Ayres, other than the latest in a series of gomers who’ve stumbled into her sideways over the years? Idiots who see the beautiful eyes, the perfect face, smooth skin, and miles of leg, and think ‘target of opportunity’ - Jerks that I’ve had to protect her from, and occasionally had to run damage control on.”

Colin’s grin faded as anger took over his face again. “And just what do you think you are to her?” 

Josh snorted and walked over to lean against the edge of a desk. “Me? I’m the ultimate gomer - The gomer supreme - The gomer in chief. And I’ll protect her from me like I would any of the others.”

Colin took his cue from Josh and relaxed against a wall, folding his arms as he regarded his adversary. “Don’t you think that you’re overrating yourself, bucko?”

Josh grinned tiredly and placed his hands on the edge of the desk that he was sitting on. “Who did she ask to see before they put her under? You or me? No, I don’t think I’m overrating myself at all. When you’re nothing but a fading memory, I’ll still be there waiting. And let’s get something straight, I *am* waiting. I’ve been waiting for a very long time. Donnatella would tell you that I’m the poster-boy for impatience and frustration, but when it really matters I have the patience of a clam.” Josh paused for breath, and then looked Colin in the eye. “I’m a political animal, so straightforward honesty is contrary to my nature, and I really hate ‘sharing’, *and* I really *really* hate having to explain this to you of all people, but what the hell, let’s be original. Besides, you’re the one who was pushing the issue, so you get to listen. And speaking of which, why *are* you pushing the issue? Why are you goading me about how I feel about her? If anything started up between Donna and me, not that it could, you’ll be on the outside looking in. Anyway, let’s start the show with this concept.” Josh smiled bitterly and said, “If you think for one minute that I don’t live in mortal terror every time some idiot like you pops up in her life, that I don’t fear that this will be the one that’s good enough to take her from me forever, you’re out of your mind.”

Colin stared at him. This he hadn’t expected. This wasn’t what he’d expected at all, after his initial impression of the man. “For god’s sake why are you holding back? It’s so damned obvious that you should have it tattooed on your forehead, and now that I see you two together so should she, if for no other reason than to warn off poor fools like me. I may be a bastard sometimes, but I’m not *that* sort of bastard. I mean I would have never…”

Josh straightened abruptly and made a slashing motion with his right hand. “I don’t want to hear about it, about whatever there was between the two of you, even by inference. I don’t really have any claim on her, I may never have any claim on her, but I’m only human. As for why, you have no grasp of what DC is like, or the sheer depth of what lies between Donna and I. All my life I’ve dealt with loss, and I’ve gotten really good at it. When I was six, my sister, my only sibling, died in a house fire. I still wake up sometimes, even now, with her name on my lips and her dying screams echoing in my mind from the flames. During the first Bartlet for America campaign, the night of the Illinois primary, my father died while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Donna had to give me the news. It was a *pulmonary embolism* that killed him.”

Colin paled and straightened. “Christ, man, then this must have been murder for you. I had no idea…”

Cutting him off again Josh nodded, “Which is part of the reason we’re having this little *chat* right now.” His eyes darkened as anger surfaced in his countenance. “Because I did NOT fucking appreciate your little soliloquy on unrequited love out there in the hall. It’s really none of your damned business to begin with, but there and then while we were waiting to see if she would live through this, even without my personal history, it was especially out of line. You’ve already gotten what *you* wanted from her. You aren’t entitled to a piece of *me* too. You haven’t the faintest idea about how I feel. I may be the grand master of dealing with loss, but this is one loss that I couldn’t have handled. If Donna had died in there, she’d have taken the best part of my soul with her.” His voice wavered as he added, “And she still might.”

Colin sighed and leaned back against the wall again. “I apologize.” 

Josh nodded wearily and closed his eyes. “Try to imagine how little that means to me right now. Anyway, to continue - four years back I was in the wrong place at the wrong time - when some racist high school dropouts decided to take target practice at the President’s entourage in Rosslyn, Virginia. I caught a bullet here,” he gestured low on his right ribcage, “I was in surgery for fourteen hours, and I still nearly died. I’m told that Donna didn’t eat or sleep the entire time that I was in surgery. When I left the hospital, she put her whole life on hold to look after me. She practically lived with me for three months. She controlled what I ate, who I talked to, what I read, and what TV I watched; she saw to it that I took my meds, held my hand in physical therapy, supported me on the bad days when I threw up because the medicine made me so sick that I couldn’t keep any food down… and she held me in the dark of night when the nightmares came.” Josh took a deep breath before going on, because his voice starting to crack again under the power of the emotions churning inside of him. “When I developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of the shooting, Donna held me together, practically with her bare hands, and got me the help that I needed, even though I fought her on it and said unforgivably cruel things to her while I was at it. She stood by me. Professionally and personally she’s always had my back through all the ups and downs.”

“And now I’ll return the favor. I’ll be there for her, because I know what’s coming. When she gets back to the States, she’ll have a long road ahead of her. Months of suffering and hard work to get back to what she was, if she ever can. She’ll go through everything that I went through when I was recovering, and probably more besides. It’ll be hard, but I’ll be there with her because I love her. And if that means that she wants you there, I’ll do that too.” Josh looked him in the eye. “You’ve got some time yet, so you think about it, Ayres. If you want that second night, or third night... or more, it’ll be months in coming, and you’ll have to work for it. I have little or no hope of ever even having a first night, and I’ll be there. What about you? If you’re up for it, and she wants you, I’ll buy you the fucking airline ticket myself when she flies home.”

“Not that I need your permission, but why would you do that?” Colin asked. “You don’t like me. It’s been obvious from the moment I arrived. Why go out of you way to give me an opening?”

Josh snorted. “You still don’t get it. You still don’t understand what love really means, so you think that I don’t understand it either just because I haven’t been to bed with her. The Catholics think that they cornered the market on penance and guilt. Well, they’ve got nothing on us Jews. Don’t you get it? I *sent* her here. This *happened* because of me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t give, no price that I wouldn’t pay, to take her place right now. I wish that I’d bled to death back there on the sidewalk at Rosslyn, rather than living to see this. If I had died, I wouldn’t have sent her to Gaza. She wouldn’t be here. If I can’t undo the past, then putting up with the likes of you in the present will have to do. It’s my penance.” Josh smiled bitterly. “And you’re wrong. I don’t dislike you. I hate your guts. I hate the mere fact that you exist on the same planet with her. I hate that some chance-met schmuck like you can be with her, can touch her, and I can’t. You talked about puritanical workplace ethics, but you really have no clue. An ordinary office would be bad enough, but in the cauldron of DC, in the fishbowl of the White House, it’s raised to the nth degree. We used to be pretty casual she and I. When we walked down the hall together, I’d have my hand on the small of her back. Or I’d look over her shoulder at something I’d brush against her.” Josh’s voice started to crack again. “Or, God help me I’d just stand close enough to smell her perfume. I had to stop that, years ago, because I started to notice the eyes on us. We were being watched. They still watch us - Waiting for me to screw up by stepping over the line.”

Josh sighed and then got up to walk over and lean flat against the wall opposite Colin, closing his eyes for a moment, trying to let the tension building in him drain away. Talking to this man in this place was probably the stupidest thing he’d ever done, including his secret plan to fight inflation, but if he didn’t talk now, he never would, and it would eat him alive. And besides, now that he *was* talking he found that he didn’t want to stop.

After a moment Ayres spoke. “Are you alright?”

Josh’s eyes popped open and he blinked almost as if he were surprised to find himself where he was.

“Yeah, sorry - This wall leaning thing is something that my therapist taught me to do when my stress levels get too high. I have to get them down, or the nurses are going to freak when they take my blood pressure.”

Colin nodded. “So, are we done here?”

Josh grimaced as his back sent him a jolt of pain on his right side, “No, not quite.” He paused a minute and gathered his remaining strength before going on. 

“Well then, let’s move it along. You were engaged in some paranoid rant about being watched?” Colin said with what looked like an indifferent yawn.

Josh laughed bitterly. “I imagine it does sound weird, but you have to understand something - People gossip. Inside the beltway they’re worse than a bunch of high school girls at a slumber party. There’ve been rumors about Donna and I even *before* she took care of me when I was shot. There’s nothing that we wouldn’t do for each other. She steals food off my plate. We share drinks. We finish each other’s sentences. And when we talk to each other we can hold whole conversations without *ever* finishing a sentence. I’ve never had a conversation with any other woman that was half as profound as just locking eyes with Donna can be. We can’t help it. That’s the way that we’ve always been, almost from day one. She claims that she’s ‘tuned to me’. And people notice it. How could they not? That’s why I had to dial back the physical contact. I can rarely even have her in my office with the door shut. Aside from the inevitable temptation, it was fueling the fires of speculation.”

“In the six years since I met Donna, I can count the number of women that I dated on one hand, with fingers left over, and I rarely have a second date. What point is there in dating when the woman I really want is right in front of me every damn day? Why waste my time on second best?” Josh snorted. “I’ve had one long-term relationship in that time, and I really tried with that one. I really wanted it to work. So, of course, it was a disaster. And wouldn’t you know it, when I first started trying to get her interested, very nearly the first thing out of her mouth was, ‘Are you dating your assistant?’ *That* should have told me something right at the beginning.”

“And the most important thing is the fact that Donna has a real future in politics. She has no degree, but she walked into our campaign headquarters back during the first campaign and conned me into making her my assistant. Everything that she’s accomplished since then has been due to a combination of her natural intelligence, her hard work, and above all her sheer determination. People in DC know her name. The White House senior staff often defers to her judgment on the things that my office handles. Congressmen, senators, and lobbyists seek her opinion on how to present themselves to me. She knows everything that I know. If I dropped dead tomorrow she could take over my office without so much as a blink. She’s tough, loyal, and highly skilled, and I think that one day she’ll outshine me. But for that to happen, she has to get out of my shadow. And that’s already happening. She went on the CoDel. None of the other staff at her level could have handled this job. She wanted more responsibility and I gave it to her. She’s outgrown the job. She’s outgrown me. I should let her go, but I’m too damned pathetic, too selfish to give her up. Not seeing her every day would kill me. And yet, for all her accomplishments and her skill, a third of the beltway insiders think that she got where she is by warming my bed, and half of the rest would probably say it too if they thought that it would give them an advantage in dealing with me. It makes me physically ill to think of what they’d do to her if I let my guard down, even once.”

Colin’s eye brows rose... “Surely it can’t be that bad?”

Josh glanced at his watch and then smiled tiredly. “We’ve been here too long. They’re going to start looking for us. They probably think that one of us has killed the other and is trying to hide the body.” Josh paused to gather his thoughts. “Oh yes it absolutely would be that bad. It’s happened before, and I’ve seen how it works. First the tabloid rags pick it up, and then the mainstream papers run it below the fold. And after it builds for a day or so, they move it above the fold - A sex scandal in the White House? They’d print the papers in Donna’s own blood if it would gain them more market share. Then the GOP would latch onto it. The conservatives would have a ball with it. I have enemies on both sides of the aisle, so it’s likely that some in my own party would hop aboard. There would be calls for an investigation of everything from propriety to finances. They wouldn’t find squat, but finding anything wouldn’t be the point. The allegations would be enough. I’d come through it alright, mainly because we’re two single people with nothing to hide… and, allegations about morals and propriety aside, I’d have still been seen as the stud that screwed his secretary - Big deal. But Donna’s career would be over. She’d become a punch line. A dirty joke told at comedy clubs and cocktail parties. They’d be all over her like a pack of hyenas. They’d tear her to pieces right in front of me, just because they could. No one would hire her outside the administration because they’d never believe that her résumé was anything but window dressing, and her promotion path inside the White House would be dead, because people would be certain that any promotion she got she’d have earned on her back.”

Josh sighed. “No, I won’t do that, even assuming that she’d be willing to try. I’ll resign first and get as far away from her as I can. If it comes down to a choice between her future and my heart, my heart loses… every time.”

Colin straightened and stepped away from the wall, “And what about her heart?”

Josh shrugged, trying to feign indifference, but he only succeeded in looking miserable. “She may suspect, but as long as she doesn’t know, it doesn’t matter. And besides, that’s what you’re for, aren’t you?”

Colin shrugged. “I suppose so, but now I wonder. Whether you admit it or not, you and she have what is, odds on, the most Byzantine romance going that I’ve ever seen. And, make no mistake - it is a romance that I’ve gotten in the middle of here.”

Josh snorted as he remembered Jack’s words about getting in the middle of something. “You wouldn’t be the first boyfriend of hers to recognize that. You’re just the first one that I’ve ever talked to honestly about it. So, does that mean that you’re copping out?” he asked, with a hopeful look.

Colin shook his head slowly. “No, I don’t think so. She deserves better than that. What I can’t figure out though is why a man who’s willing to take a shot at something like peace in the Middle-East isn’t willing to take a shot at being with the woman he loves. In the short time that I’ve known you, I can tell that you’re a dedicated idealist. You *like* tilting at windmills.”

Josh looked crestfallen. “This is one windmill that I have to leave alone. If we fail in the Middle-East, it’s on the other side of the world, where I don’t have to see the faces of the people that I failed. And we can always try again. If I fail Donna, the results will be right in front of me, and there won’t be any second chance. There won’t be any prize for a good try.”

“Well then, we understand each other,” Colin responded with a smirk. “I’m not going anywhere until I’m good and ready, and you’re going to stand masochistically by and watch.” 

Josh managed to look disgusted and amused at the same time. If he weren’t compelled to hate the man’s guts, he might actually like him… just a little bit - Barely enough to measure. “Don’t worry about me, Danny Boy. I’m used to it.” Then Josh’s face tightened into a menacing glare again. “But there is one last thing. If you hurt her, you’ll regret it. Every time she’s gotten in deep with some guy in the past, it’s come back to bite her in the ass one way or another. That isn’t going to happen this time. There’s a doctor that took advantage of her when she was in college so he could get a free ride through med school. He’s been audited by the IRS every year since we took office. There was a navy officer that shot his mouth off to the Post and let her take the fall for it. He’s in the middle of a two-year posting to Baffin Island weather station. There’s another guy too, but he and I are sort of in a Mexican stand-off. However I’m watching him, and if the opportunity ever presents itself, I’ll screw him with his pants on. And then there’s you - If I ever see her with a sad look on her face that you put there, I’ll call in some favors at State and with the British Ambassador, and you’ll have visa and passport problems from then until the end of time. Are we clear?”

Colin smiled. “Crystal. Are we done?”

“We’re done. Let’s get out of here before Lee comes around trying to find out why I haven’t had my blood pressure taken yet,” Josh said as he unlocked the door. “If he does, Leo McGarry will hear about it, which means that my mother will hear about it, which means that eventually Donna will hear about it, which means that shortly after she does my life won’t be worth living for a while.”

Colin laughed quietly as he stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled out the door, following what was surely the most likeable enemy he’d ever had.

 

**************************************************** 

Eight and a half hours pass…….

****************************************************

 

_Donna's hospital room._

_She lies unconscious as Josh sits beside her, listening to the news._

_DONNA: (barely a whisper) Josh ... Josh? (several seconds pass) ... Josh?_  
(Josh is so overcome, he can't speak and just stares at her, mouth agape, for several seconds)  
JOSH: (barely a whisper) Hey ... you're awake. Your mom is here. Colin took her downstairs for some, I don't know, some schnitzel or something.   
DONNA: You're still here.  
JOSH: Yeah. (beat) I'm still here.  
(Donna looks at him, as the camera pans back and fades out as Josh tenderly adjusts her blanket around her 

********************************************************************  
“How do you feel?” he asked.

Donna’s voice was raspy and weak from disuse, but getting stronger. “Thirsty… like last time.”

Josh poured her some ice water and stuck a straw in it. After helping her take a few sips, he put the glass on a side table and settled back down on the edge of the bed.

Donna was looking at him like he was her own personal miracle. “How did the meeting go?”

“Master of foreign policy that I am, I think there’s going to be a summit, but don’t worry about that right now.” Josh smiled as relief coursed through him. “You had us worried. You took so long to wake up.”  
Donna, who was getting more lucid by the moment asked, 

“How long?”

“According to my crappy watch, nearly nine hours since they rolled you out of the OR,” he answered.

Donna blinked in horrified surprise. “Have you been here all this time?”

Josh chuckled. “I wanted to be, but I ended up sleeping through some of it. Your doctor slipped me a Mickey. Your boyfriend thought it was very funny.”

Donna frowned. Josh should never have had to see Colin. Colin had been a pleasant distraction when she’d been in a bad place, personally and professionally, but she’d have sold her soul to prevent that particular meeting from ever taking place. Damn CJ and her big mouth anyway. By the same token, she just didn’t have the heart to tell the poor man to just get lost either. Josh may have beaten him here, but he *had* flown to Germany too. Just the same, something else was wrong here. Something in the tone of Josh’s voice said so. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Josh gave her a lopsided grin. “I’m not the one in the hospital bed; I should be the one asking that question.”

“You *did* ask me that question, and I answered you. And don’t think that I’m so drugged up that I didn’t notice how you evaded mine. Answer the question, Josh.”

Josh’s face softened. “As long as you’re okay, I’m okay.”

Before Donna could press him further, another voice interrupted. “Well, sleeping beauty, you’re awake at last.”

Donna turned her head slowly to see Colin standing in the doorway with her mother by his side. “Colin? Mom?” she said with a happy smile.

Josh was struck again by how much Donna resembled her mother. Mrs. Moss looked like Donna, only twenty-five years older, which was to say, beautiful. 

Marjorie Moss moved to the side of the bed opposite of Josh. “I’m here, sweetie. How are you feeling?”

Donna shifted a bit and grimaced. “Like crap.”

Colin chuckled. “That’d be the way of it.” He glanced at Josh and said, “How long has she been awake?”

Josh shrugged, “Only a few minutes. She was pretty out of it when she first woke up, but that seems to be clearing up fast. Fast enough for her to try to interrogate *me*.”

Colin smiled down at Donna. “That’s my girl.”

Donna was totally confused. She glanced back and forth between the two men who were standing at ease on opposite sides of her bed, smiling at her. She was wondering if perhaps she was hallucinating, because before her surgery they’d been glaring daggers at each other. Snapping and snarling at each other like two strange dogs who had just met. She could tell that they still didn’t like each other, but the edge was gone. It was like… oh, no...! No, no, no, they’d bonded? Somehow they’d bonded over her. No good could come of this. No good at all.

Before she could open her mouth to ask what the hell was going on, Josh’s cell phone started singing “Hail to the Chief”. Donna froze. She and Josh stared at each other as he reached for his phone. They both knew very well who would be on the other end.

As Mrs. Moss and Colin watched, Josh flipped the cell phone open. “Hello, sir?”

“Yes sir, she’s fine.”

“No sir, she came through with flying colors.”

“Yes sir, I… sir?

“Yes, she woke up just a few minutes ago.”

“Yes, she’s quite alert - Tired and sore, but alert.”

“No I haven’t… sir?

“Okay.”

Josh lowered the cell phone and stepped closer to Donna. “He wants to talk to you.”

Donna flushed as her heart monitor accelerated a bit.   
“Me?” she squeaked.

“He wants to hear his favorite trivia junky’s voice.”  
Donna sighed hesitantly as Josh placed the phone to her ear. He looked over at the other occupants of the room and mouthed, “It’s the President.”

Marjorie flushed with pride as Colin surrendered to a bemused smile.

At that moment a nurse charged in and squawked. “Turn that damn cell phone off. Can’t you read the signs?”

Josh smirked and held out the phone. “Here, the President of the United States is on the other end. I’m sure that he’d love to discuss that with you. After you decide which ‘ass-end of nowhere’ base you’d like to be posted to next.”

The nurse paled and backed out even faster than she’d arrived. Turning back to Donna, he held the phone so that she could speak comfortably.

“Hello sir?”

“Bella Donnatella!” boomed the familiar voice of Jed Bartlet. “Just so you know, you’re on speaker right now, and the gang’s all here. How are you? Are they treating you alright? I won’t ask if Josh is behaving himself, because there’s no hope of that. But we’ve been very worried about you!”

Donna blinked as tears began to gather in her eyes. “I’ve had better days, sir, but I think the worst is over for now.”

Another voice broke in. “Donna, this is Abbey Bartlet. I’ve been getting updates from the hospital. You have a long road ahead of you, but from what I can see you’re out of the woods. I want you to know that whatever you need in the coming months, it will be there for you. We’ll see to it.”

Jed’s voice came back. “Back off Abigail, I’m speaking. “Uh oh,” he whispered to Donna. “She’s glaring now.” Continuing in a more normal tone he said, “I just wanted to hear your voice. You’ve been in our prayers. I look forward to seeing you back in the White House sometime soon; if for no other reason than the simple fact that no one else can keep Josh in line. My understanding is that he was ready to walk into my office and recommend carpet bombing the entire Gaza Strip before Leo let him off the leash to go to you.”

Donna sniffed weakly and glanced at Josh. “Thank you sir and I didn’t know that.”

Bartlet chuckled. “You just never know about some people, do you? Anyway, I need you to sit on him. He’s got to help me negotiate something good out of this mess. I can’t do that if he’s breathing fire and brimstone.”

Donna smiled. “I’ll bring a fire extinguisher.”

Jed chuckled warmly. “You do that. When you get back here, as soon as you can get around easily, we’ll bring you to the Residence. I’ll make chili and we can break out the Trivial Pursuit so maybe I can finally officially kick your ass at trivia.”

Donna started to laugh but winced as her stitches tugged painfully. “Oh, don’t make me laugh, sir, please.”

Bartlet chuckled. “I’m sorry.” There were voices in the background, and she heard the President answer. “Okay, Donna, we need to get back to work. Tell your boss to get up to the hospital administrative offices, right now. They’re setting up a secure phone line so we can conference. And I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to recall him. I know that probably doesn’t make you happy, and it will probably send him through the roof, but I need *all* of my guys if we’re going to get something out of this mess. I don’t want what you’re going through to have been for nothing. I need him on board. If anyone can put him there, it’s you.” 

Donna swallowed as she thought of Admiral Fitzwallace, and the Congressmen who hadn’t made it out of the SUV alive. “I’ll do my best,” sir.

Bartlet paused for a second and said quietly, “I know that you will. You always do, without fail.”

The tears that had been threatening now started to flow. “Thank you, sir.” 

“Good bye, Donna, and god bless. We’ll see you in a few weeks.”

"Good bye sir.”

There was a chorus of goodbyes from various people including CJ and Toby. Bartlet ended by saying, “I need to talk to Josh now.”

Alright, sir - Good luck.”

Donna looked at Josh and nodded. “He needs to talk to you.”

Josh raised the phone to his ear. “I’m here sir. I… yes sir. I will sir. Goodbye.”

Josh flipped his phone closed and stared at Donna for a long moment, and then he spoke. “He said to do exactly what you tell me to…” he paused a moment, then finished with a smirk…”as if I don’t always do that.”

Donna gave him a half hearted glare. “Yeah right, sell that one somewhere else. You always do exactly what you want to do. You need to get up to the administrator’s office, like now. They’re setting up a secure phone line for a conference call.”

Josh rolled his eyes and said, “We both know that isn’t true, not when it really matters.” Turning to Donna’s mother he said, “Sorry we haven’t gotten to talk much, but duty calls.” Josh’s gaze shifted to Colin. “Look after her until I get back?”

Colin nodded and looked down at Donna with a smile. 

“You know I will.”

Josh’s face hardened, and he seemed to struggle with something for a moment, but he nodded sharply. “Thanks,” he muttered as he leaned over the bed to kiss Donna on the cheek and whispered, “The last time I let you out of my sight I came back to find you with a life threatening condition. The time before that you got yourself blown up. Please stop doing that.” He kissed her cheek again. “I’ll be back.” Then he straightened up and started for the door, only to be stopped by Marjorie Moss, who gave him a rib straining hug. 

“Thank you,” she said, “I don’t know what I’d have done without you.” 

Josh was stiff for a moment then relaxed into her hug and returned it with fervor. He’d been holding it in for days, and he was tired of it. “I couldn’t have done anything else.”

“Thank you anyway,” she whispered back. “Without you to tell me what was happening, I’d have lost my mind.”

Colin studied them for a moment then turned back to Donna and smiled to himself as he noticed that she only had eyes for her mother and Josh Lyman. When Donna turned her eyes to him and Marjorie returned to the opposite side of the bed he knew that Josh Lyman was gone.

Tracing a finger up and down her arm he studied her solemnly. Even beat to hell she was still the same beautiful woman that had attracted him in the hotel bar. By far one of the most beautiful women he’d ever been with - Been with - Past tense. 

“So Donnatella Moss, how are you feeling?”

Donna frowned as she tested the flavor of the question, and the use of her full name. “Like Josh told the President - Tired and sore.”

“Well enough for me to take my leave of you?”

“You’re leaving?”

Colin smiled warmly. “Well, your mother is here now, and between her and Josh, I think they have you well cared-for. Josh isn’t the only one getting demanding calls from his employers. Granted mine aren’t quite as desperate and able to command my obedience, but they *are* calling. They want me back in Gaza.”

Donna sighed. She wasn’t exactly unhappy about this turn of events. A week ago Colin’s finger caressing her arm would have set her heart racing, even right before her surgery it would have induced a little bit of a buzz. But now there was nothing at all. Facing death had made her re-examine her life. CJ had been right in one respect. She needed more, but she’d been wrong in that the more that Donna needed wasn’t from other men. The more could come from only one man… Josh Lyman. The question is… how to get it? For now though she had to deal with Colin. He’d been a mistake, but she didn’t want to treat him like one. He didn’t deserve that. So she smiled at him brightly. “Are you sure? I mean I understand if you have to leave, but you know you’re welcome here.”

Colin laughed. “Well *that* would depend on who you talk to.”

Donna frowned. There was that odd vibe again. The same one that she’d gotten off of Josh… only now it was coming from Colin. “What do you mean? Did Josh do something? If he did, he’s in deep trouble. He’s always messing with my personal life when he shouldn’t.”

Colin shook his head in silent wonder and amusement - Clueless - Totally adrift. “No my dear, Josh Lyman and I have had a meeting of the minds. I suspect that, were I to stick around, he’d be on his best behavior. And I’m more tempted than you can imagine to do just that. Did you know that your boss flew to Germany without stopping to pack a bag, not even pausing to pick up his medications… which apparently upset his mother quite a bit, who then upset your Mr. McGarry quite a bit, resulting in the medical staff around here descending on him like the wrath of God.” Colin chuckled a bit. “I was there when they took his blood pressure. The poor nurses nearly fainted over the readings. They practically forced medication down his throat, and before he knew what was happening, they’d sedated him. He slept nearly seven hours, which I imagine is more sleep than he’s had in total since he got here.”

Donna looked startled. It halfway sounded like Colin was defending Josh. Yep, they’d definitely bonded somehow. “I’ll deal with him later. The idiot never does take proper care of himself unless I force him to.” She sighed. “Are you sure that you have to leave?” she asked, while thinking ‘Please say yes’.”

Colin leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. “I think it’s for the best, as I’m sure you’ll realize in due time. But before I go, I want to give you a gift - A token of my esteem.” He reached in his pocket, pulled out a compact Dictaphone and set it on her bedside table. “I think you’ll find it very useful.”

Donna wore a puzzled look as she asked, “What for? It’s not like I’ll be taking dictation for a while. And the last thing I want to do is record all of this for posterity.”

Colin grinned. “Oh, it’s not so much what you’ll say as what you’ll hear.” He leaned in and kissed her again, this time on the lips, and straightened. “I’ll be off now. I have a plane to catch, and pictures to take.” He produced a business card and laid it on the table beside the recorder. “In the unlikely event that you should ever need me, give me a call.” 

He kissed her one more time, on the forehead, then he bid his goodbyes to her mother and left, pausing only for a moment at the door to look back and smile. Then he was gone.

Donna and her mother were left staring at the pocket recorder before looking up at each other with the same puzzled expression. Marjorie reached out and picked it up, weighing it in her hand. Then she looked up at Donna.

“That was… nice of him… he certainly was… charming.” ‘In a smarmy sort of way’, she added to herself. She’d seen men like him before and she just wouldn’t have believed that they were her daughter’s type at all.

Donna smiled as she remembered Josh’s reaction to her use of that particular adjective. “Josh said he was a bodice ripper - A ‘Heathcliff on the moors’.”

Marjorie smiled back. “I think he hit the nail right on the head. I swear, if that man were any more jealous, those eyes of his wouldn’t be brown, they’d be green.”

Donna flushed pinkly. “Oh, he isn’t…”

Her mother snorted. “Wanna bet?” She looked again at the recorder in her hand and idly pressed play.

_“I don’t blame you, because from…”_

Marjorie’s hand jerked and she pushed stop. Then she looked up at her daughter who was staring at the recorder as if it were a venomous snake. Colin had recorded Josh? Saying what? Oh, this could be bad on so many levels.

Marjorie raised an eyebrow. “Was that who I think it was?”

Donna nodded weakly.

“Well then, let’s see what he has to say for himself.”

“Mother, no!” Donna barked. “There may be something important on there… something classified.”

Marjorie laughed. “Sweetheart, I beg to doubt that that man of yours would be stupid enough to let something Top Secret be caught on tape, and even if he did, we’ve got it now. We’ll listen, and if we have to, we can destroy it later.”

“He’s not my man… and we shouldn’t.”

“Sweetie, come on and live a little,” Marjorie shot back. “You know it’s driving you crazy.”

Donna blushed. “Okay. But if we start hearing things that we shouldn’t, we shut it off and wait for Josh to get back. Agreed?”

Her mother came over to the bed and sat on the edge. “Agreed,” she answered, as she pushed play and set the recorder down on the table.

_“…where I stand you smell pretty ripe…”_

Donna frowned. She had a feeling this wasn’t going to be pretty.

************************************************

The conference call had gone both well and badly. Well, because they’d hammered out an agenda for Camp David. Badly in that Leo apparently hadn’t been in the room. The president seemed to be taking most of his policy cues from Kate Harper. The woman was admittedly sharp, but she wasn’t Leo McGarry. Kate having the ear of the president made Josh nervous. There was another downside as well. He’d been recalled. A seat for him on a Lufthansa flight had been booked for tomorrow afternoon. He had to think about that. It had been made clear to him by the man himself that there weren’t any other options. But there were always options. He had to think. 

As he approached Donna’s room he slowed down and kept his eyes on the floor. As much as he wanted to get back to Donna, the idea of sharing their remaining time together with the Irish shutterbug sapped his enthusiasm. And Ayres being here was a great big plus on the side of going back to DC. Josh sighed. If Ayres was what made her happy, he’d live with it, the same way that he’d lived with Jack Reese, but he didn’t have to like it, and he didn’t. 

He was almost there when he heard a gasp and looked up. Approaching from down the hall beyond Donna’s doorway was Marjorie Moss. She stared at Josh for a long moment then charged forward, racing past her daughter’s room and hitting Josh at a dead run. Josh caught her in his arms and the first thing that he noticed was the she was crying and the second thing he noticed was that she had him in a crushing bear hug. His first thought was total panic. Something had happened - Another embolism or something worse. His blood turned to ice-water as he was torn between comforting Marjorie and reaching Donna. In the end, he couldn’t have broken free from her without throwing her aside bodily, so he held her while he forced his own fear down. Eventually her sobs started to abate and her grip loosened. He started to pull away, to head for Donna’s room but Marjorie stopped him with a firm hand on his arm. That’s when he noticed that she was smiling.

Marjorie kept smiling, even though Josh was staring at her like she’d grown a second head. “Josh?” She waved a hand in front of his face and he jerked.

“Mrs. Moss, why are you smiling? I thought… I thought something bad had happened.”

Marjorie proved where Donna had gotten her pout by throwing a real medal- winner at Josh. “Josh, how many times do I have to tell you, it’s *Marjorie*. Mrs. Moss is my mother-in-law. No, nothing bad happened. Unless you count Colin leaving as something ‘bad’,” she finished with a smirk that just screamed ‘Donna’.

Josh’s face darkened. “He left? As in flew the coop? Why that chicken-shit sonofabitch! I thought he was… that he’d… I thought he’d go the distance. Dammit! What is with your daughter, Marjorie? Why the hell does she keep picking losers to fall in love with?”

Marjorie stared at him for a beat before bursting into laughter. She was laughing so hard that she literally had to hang onto Josh to keep from falling down. Josh was mystified, but helped hold her up until her laughter subsided. “Oh Josh, a few hours ago I’d have agreed with you, but not anymore.”

Josh frowned. She liked Colin? Having Marjorie as well as Donna ensorcelled by Colin was going to make his life more uncomfortable than it already was, but what the hell? In for a penny, and for a pound, “You approve of Ayres,” he asked, trying with a notable lack of success to keep the astonishment out of his voice.

Marjorie giggled. The green-eyed monster was back. “Oh, I’d have to say yes… and no. You’ll understand what I mean later. For now go and see my daughter. Ease her sorrow over her boyfriend’s departure.”

Josh’s eyebrows rose, “Sorrow? Sorrow??!! I warned that asshole about what would happen to him if I saw a sad look on her face that had his name attached to it!” He pulled out his cell phone and started scrolling through numbers as he muttered “State Department… State Department… gotta be here somewhere. 

Marjorie placed her hand over Josh’s cell phone. “Josh, stop it. I was teasing. The last thing she feels about Colin leaving is sad.

Josh looked up at her, startled. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” she replied with a dazzling smile. “Now go be sure yourself. Go see Donna. She’s waiting for *you*.”

Josh hesitated for a moment, puzzled by the whole strange conversation, but finally he kissed her on the cheek and hurried the last twenty feet to Donna’s room. As he rushed through the door he came to an abrupt halt. Donna was looking straight at the door, as if waiting for someone. Was she looking for him?

“Have you seen my mother?”

Well, there went that fantasy.

"Yeah, I bumped into her out in the hall. Why’d she leave you alone? She shouldn’t have done that.”

Donna chuckled. “She needed coffee and a chance to stretch her legs, and I needed a sponge bath. So she gave me some privacy.”

Josh felt flushed for a moment thinking of a naked Donna being bathed by the nurses which segued into a naked Donna being bathed by him, which led to giving himself a mental smack in the head. He’d been where Donna was now. There was nothing sexy about a sponge bath - Embarrassing, yes - Humiliating, yes - Sexy, not so much. 

He stepped closer and caught a faith scent in the air that stopped him again. Closing his eyes he inhaled deeply. It was lavender - Her preferred scent. For some reason, when it was warmed by Donna’s skin, it smelled completely different from the way that it did on any other woman. It was delicate. It was evocative. It started his brain buzzing with images of late nights, and suspended moments in time when he’d been close to her for the barest instant. His heartbeat speeded up. He opened his eyes to see her smiling at him. It was a knowing smile. She could read him like a book. She knew he’d detected her perfume.

“One of the nurses wears it,” she said with a knowing smile. “She was kind enough to let me have some. Make-up is out for me, for awhile. But something to drown out the smell of ‘hospital’ is of the good. They bathed me and brushed out my hair so I could at least *feel* pretty, even when I’m not.”

Josh swallowed and said softly, “I think you look beautiful. You always did from the first day I met you. When I arrived here you were unconscious. I don’t think you’ve *ever* looked more beautiful than you did when you first opened your eyes.”

Donna stared at him solemnly, blinking a bit to keep back her tears. “You’ve never said that before. Thank you.”

Josh wasn’t smiling either when he said, “Actions speak louder than words Donnatella - Protecting you from Calley - Coming after you the night of second Inauguration - Going Trans-Atlantic to get to you. All of that should have said something.”

Donna pretended to frown. “It was supposed to say that I’m beautiful?”

Josh blinked when he realized what he’d actually said. “I… yes… I mean no… I… no, that’s not what it was supposed to say.”

“Then what?” she asked softly.

“Where’s Colin?” Josh misdirected.

Donna sighed. He was backing away from it. Looking back over the years she could see that they’d played this game many, many times, and he’d always backed away when it got too close, and now she knew why. That wasn’t going to happen this time.

“He left. He had to go back to Gaza.”

“Well I’m sure he’ll be back. He sounded like he wanted to see you again,” Josh responded with false cheer. “I know I would.”

There it was again. He was dancing right up to the line, without actually saying the words. Well this time she was going to trip him and he’d fall over the line.

“He gave me a present before he left.”

Josh frowned. He needed to get her something too. He still hadn’t replaced the roses he’d lost when he’d stumbled into her room from the meeting, only to find that she’d been taken to emergency surgery. “What did he give you?” he asked absently.

Donna slid her hand beneath her blanket and pulled out the Dictaphone, holding it up for his inspection.

Josh was puzzled. “He gave you a tape recorder?”

Donna smiled. “That was what I thought too, but after he left, mom and I discovered that the gift wasn’t so much the recorder as what was *on* the recorder.

Josh smirked, “Irish ballads? Celtic folk music? Was it good?”

She regarded him with a carefully neutral expression now, giving away nothing... “Noooo,” she drawled, “Something better than music. And I loved the whole thing, but I have favorite bits. Wanna hear one?”

Something in her demeanor screamed ‘Danger Will Robinson! Danger!’ but he nodded his assent anyway. 

Donna pressed play and Josh’s voice filled the room….

_“In the six years since I met Donna, I can count the number of women that I dated on one hand, with fingers left over, and I rarely have a second date. What point is there in dating when the woman I really want is right in front of me every damn day? Why waste my time on second best?”_

Josh turned chalky white and swayed on his feet. "Donna, I’m sorry, I can explain… I didn’t know he…” He stopped talking and stumbled to a chair, collapsing into it, putting his head in his hands. This was a disaster, all because of that stupid ass… he looked up at her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have meddled, not again, but the sonofabitch kept needling me. I should’ve known better than to trust him” He sighed. "The President has recalled me. I have to be on a plane tomorrow and 4:10 P.M. I’ll get a hotel room and leave you alone.” He stood abruptly and turned to leave... “I should go…”

“Joshua?” she said softly.

He froze and turned to regard her with trepidation, “Yeah?”

“Come over here."

“I don’t think…”

“Please?” she pleaded in a tremulous voice.

When she used that tone, he was lost. Slowly, agonizingly, he walked over to her bed side and stood looking down at her.

“Please, put your hand on my arm? Please?”

Josh reached out and laid his hand on her forearm, where it lay on the bed. He tried to will his hand to hold still, but it had a mind of its own. Slowly, softly it began traveling back and forth over the silky smoothness of her skin. His heart was beating so fast that he thought it would burst right out of his chest. Donna’s eyes drifted shut and a single tear welled up from each one, trickling down her cheeks.

“Do you know how that feels?” she asked, ask she opened her tear-brightened eyes to look him in the face. “It makes me feel like I could fly. Cliff, Jack, Colin, and all the gomers in all the world, added together, couldn’t make me feel like that. They never could. Only you can do that to me, just by touching me. You always could. I just never believed that you wanted to… until now.”

Josh choked up. “I wanted to, Donnatella - More than anything.”

“Well, now you can. I don’t care who knows. I don’t care what we have to do. I don’t care what else happens. I never want you to feel like you can’t touch me, ever again.”

Josh took a deep breath. “I love you.”

She raised her arm and caught his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers “And I love you too… you idiot.”

He laughed weakly as he leaned over to rest his head next to hers for a moment, inhaling deeply of the electric scent of fresh clean Donna and lavender. Then he lifted his head and caught her eyes… and oh so slowly he leaned forward and kissed her… gently at first, then more firmly. Then, as he realized what had just happened between them, he began feathering kisses all over her face. “God I love you so much, Donnatella - So much. I was so scared that you were dead, and then I was scared that I’d lost you to him.”

Crying happy tears she turned her head and caught his lips as they were aiming for her cheek. Her mouth opened at once and their tongues dueled oh so slowly and gently, with tenderness and passion, before their lips finally separated. “You didn’t, you couldn’t lose me. He was a mistake, and he knew it. If that bomb hadn’t gone off, I’d have never seen him again. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“But I slept with him, even though I loved you.”

Josh snorted. “Like I’ve never done the same damn thing?”

Donna sniffled and gave a sigh. “Well, I’m sorry he goaded you, but only halfway, because at least now I know the truth.”

“We know the truth,” he said as he leaned in to claim her lips again.

As that kiss broke, Donna sighed. “I’ll have to find another job.”

Josh frowned, started to object, and then thought the better of it. “Okay.”

“You’re not going to argue?”

He shrugged. “I’m not an idiot. If I have to choose between having this, and having you as my right arm at the office, I’ll choose this.” He nuzzled her shoulder and neck gently. “Just give me a little while to think about what’s next, please?”

Donna gave him a questioning look. “Next?”

“For us - You haven’t been happy in your job for a while. I know that. But neither have I. Let me see if I can find us a candidate to work for, one who isn’t quite as much of a tight-ass as our current co-workers. Jed Bartlet’s days in the Oval Office are numbered now. It’s time to think of the future, for us, and for the party.” He paused and then added fiercely. “By the time we walk back into the White House, *no one* will doubt how I feel about you, and *no one* will doubt how good you are at your job. We’ll be free to be ourselves.”

“I think I’d like that, but what do we do until then.”

“What do mean, what do we do?”

“We can’t very well date. You said it yourself. The press would be all over us.”

Josh sighed. “Well, in case you hadn’t noticed Donna, you’re not exactly in any condition to date right now. But no one will object if I help look after you… and if they do I’ll tell them to stick it up their ass. By the time you’re ready for dinner and dancing; with your input, I’ll have scoped out the available talent and picked a guy for us.” He kissed her gently. “Once I’ve got him, we turn in our letters of resignation, and go on our first official date. But official or unofficial, nothing will keep me from your side until then - Nothing and no one.” 

Donna giggled. “Okay, you’ve got a deal.”

“Good. No more gomers for you.”

“No,” she laughed – “Just one gomer.”

He remembered what he’d said to Ayres and grinned, 

“The ultimate gomer?”

“No,” she said ask she kissed him briefly, “Just the last gomer.”

He chuckled softly. “I can live with that.” He paused. “Do you think that there’s enough room in that bed so that I can stretch out? All of a sudden, I’m totally beat, but I don’t want to leave you, until I have to.”

Donna shifted slightly and patted the bed next to her.

Josh kicked off his shoes and gingerly crawled in next to her, lying on his side. “I love you,” he murmured tiredly.

“I love you too, Joshua… sleep.”

“Ah’kay.”

Hands joined, and hearts joined at last, warmed by his body next to hers, Donna followed him into sleep, confident that he was her last gomer - Her soul-mate...

The End


End file.
